Tuesday, 25 August 2009

Severn Bore

Sorry Friends, I had written a fairly long "blog" tried to save it whilst I added something and whoosh it vanished !! I have no idea how to get it back so I have to re-write it again...might not be so long this time as the day is starting fast and Mary will soon be over and I will get the breakfast done !!What I was going to tell you about was this last weekend we have been watching on Tv and all the local newpapers news about the "Severn Bore" . My two great Nephews love nothing better than surfing and surfing the bore comes high on their list. This year for the fist time my Sister Maragret went to watch them, although it was an early morning start for her...she is not a morning person and any activity before 10am is early for her !! Anyway Barbara my niece picked her up at 7.45am and they drove to a good vantage point. Margaret had not realised just how popular this is and was amazed at how many people were about, many many surfers made it difficult to actualy pinpoint Simon and Christopher...but she did say she saw them !! she said the noise was quite startling...that combined with loads of microlites about and even a Helicopter...this doing the filming for the TV programmes.. I don't suppose many people know what the "bore" is really like so I will include a bit about it now..

-->"When the boar comes, the stream does not swell by degrees, as at other times, but rolls in with a head...foaming and roaring as though it were enraged by the opposition which it encounter" - Thomas Harrel 1824The Severn Bore is one of Britain's few truly spectacular natural phenomena. It is a large surge wave that can be seen in the estuary of the River Severn, where the tidal range is the 2nd highest in the world, being as much as 50 feet (approx. 15.4m).As many as 60 bores occur throughout the world where the river estuary is the right shape and the tidal conditions are such that the wave is able to form. The Severn Bore is one of the biggest in the world but bores also occur on the Seine and Gironde in France, on the Indus, Hooghly and Brahmaputra in India, on the Amazon in Brazil, on the Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, and also the Knik Arm bore at the head of Cook Inlet, Alaska. By far the biggest bore in the World is the Ch'ient'ang'kian (Hang-chou-fe) in China. At spring tides the wave attains a height of up to 25 ft (7.5 m) and a speed of 13-15 knots (24-27 km/h). It is heard advancing at a range of 14 miles (22 km).The shape of the Severn estuary is such that the water is funnelled into an increasingly narrow channel as the tide rises, thus forming the large wave. The river's course takes it past Avonmouth where it is approximately 5 miles wide, then past Chepstow and Aust, then Lydney and Sharpness where it is approximately 1 mile wide, and soon the river is down to a width of a few hundred yards. By the time the river reaches Minsterworth it is less than a hundred yards across, maintaining this width all the way to Gloucester.As well as the width of the river decreasing rapidly, then so does the depth of the river also change rapidly, thereby forming a funnel shape. Therefore as the incoming tide travels up the estuary, it is routed into an ever decreasing channel. Consequently the surge wave or bore is formed.

I personally think they are all a bit mad, as it looks very dangerous to me as well as the surfers there are a lot if small boats canoes etc all trying to ride the surf...Also it looks a bit muddy to me. so I don't think you will ever see photo's of me "surfing" LOL

We are still enjoying some lovely warm weather and today we are going to take an old friend out for lunch, it is her 90th. birthday when we are in Canada so we will not be able to go to her birthday party so this will be our present to her...thankfully it is dry and sunny...Must go here comes Mary x

5 comments:

I had never heard of a bore before so thanks for sharing that. I know we have surfers on the ocean out in California, but I've never really seen them except for in the movies. It does sound dangerous to me and I won't be doing any for sure. This week we are having some dry and sunny weather too. Summer is waning but I'm enjoying it while it is still here. Enjoy the birthday with your friend. 90 is something to celebrate!

Hi Sybil,We dont live that far from the Severn so have seen the bore a few times. Its quite spectacular and can be very dangerous. Martin did some surfing (in his younger days!) but would never have attempted the bore.

About Me

Hello, I am a 66 year old who lives in a small west country village. I mainly live alone other than when I have visitors !!. I have a small min. dashhound dog called Dee who is my constant companion.I have one older sister who lives Bath the Roman city 5 miles from us here, 2 nieces, 2 great Nephews and 1 Great Niece, and 2 great great nephews !!...
I love travel...anywhere..my very Fav country to visit is New Zealand.I also love photography, reading, card making, and occasionally knitting...